Jacksonville Resisting an Officer without Violence Lawyer

Resisting an Officer without Violence is an offense that is often over charged by law enforcement when they feel their authority has been questioned.  The line between civil disobedience and resisting an officer without violence is often blurred.  An arrest for Resisting an Officer without Violence is often made based on no other conduct than being slow to move from an area, not placing your hands behind your back quick enough, or other minimal conduct.  Give the experienced Jacksonville criminal defense lawyer of LGL a call to discuss your particular case.

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Officers often use the charge of Resisting an Officer without Violence to arrest someone who is not doing what the officer asked them to do.  These arrests often involve citizens using alcohol and an officer responding to a disturbance.  The officer may or may not have the legal authority to command the person to do something (leave the public area, be quiet, stop walking away, etc.).  Often, officers allow their pride and emotions to get the best of them and they make an arrest for Resisting an Officer without Violence as punishment for questioning their authority.  There may be legal and factual challenges to the arrest.  Call the LGL's Jacksonville criminal defense attorney today to discuss your resisting an officer without violence case.  

Resisting an Officer without Violence is defined in Florida Statute Section 843.02.  In order to prove Resisting an Officer without Violence, the State must prove:

• You resisted, obstructed, or opposed the victim, and
  

• at the time, the victim was engaged in the execution of legal process or lawful execution of a legal duty, and

• at the time, the victim was an officer or a person legally authorized to execute process, and
  

• at the time, you knew the victim was an officer or a person legally authorized to execute process.
  

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This element will rarely be contested in court, but the State does have to prove that the officer was an "officer" as defined by the statute.  Here are the statutorily defined "officers":

• law enforcement officer

• correctional officer

• correctional probation officer

• part-time law enforcement officer

• part-time correctional officer

• auxiliary law enforcement officer

• auxiliary correctional officer

• member of Florida Commission on Offender Review or any administrative aide or supervisor employed by the commission

• parole and probation supervisor

• county probation officer

• personnel or representative of the Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE)

• or other person legally authorized to execute process in the execution of legal process or in the lawful execution of any legal duty (process server)

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Resisting an Officer without Violence is a first degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 1 year in jail.  Call our Jacksonville criminal defense attorney to discuss other viable options that may be available in your case, including dropped charges, pretrial diversion, probation, and more.  Each case is different and the specific facts of your case as well as your history and mitigating factors will all be extremely important.  

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Most commonly, a criminal defense attorney will challenge whether the officer was engaged in the legal exercise of his or her duties and whether there was any illegal resistance.  In some cases, there may be First Amendment constitutional challenges to the State's case.  Our criminal defense lawyer will investigate what happened, what the evidence is against you, the relevant statutory law and case law, and will develop the best strategy to defend you throughout your case.  

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